Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Postmodern Bites:
Angel as an Embodiment of Postmodern Masculinity in Angel
Christian David Zeitz
University of Cologne, Germany
[1] Since it aired as a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel has – in the same
way as its predecessor - attracted a great deal of academic interest and writing. It is the
present essay’s aim to approach the TV text from a postmodernist as well as masculinity
studies perspective: it is to be revealed in how far Angel, the vampire with a soul, embodies a
specific contradictory/ambivalent form of masculinity that could be termed postmodern
masculinity. As David S. Gutterman puts it, “Postmodern theories of subjectivity, identity,
and agency … can be useful not only for rethinking governing cultural values but also as a
framework for actively seeking social change” (224). What he tries to convey is that
postmodernism’s embrace of instable and variable identities could challenge assumptions of
what a real man is. Thus, postmodern masculinities, varying between being hegemonic and
non-traditional, could be viewed as counter-hegemonic identities, as they propose more
positive and pro-feminist models of masculinity.
[2] It is worth considering in how far Angel can be referred to as a postmodern text.
Angel’s postmodernism will be ascribed to two aspects, namely intertextuality as well as its
setting Los Angeles. Referring to Linda Hutcheon and Christopher Butler, postmodernist
ideas of identity will be rendered ambiguous, fluid, and heterogeneous. This approach is in
stark contrast to Enlightenment philosophy and modernist reasoning which theorize identity
as “a stable, coherent self” (Flax 624). Alternatively, in my understanding, postmodern male
identity is rather incoherent, for it simultaneously constructs and deconstructs the trope of the
classic, patriarchal, bear-hunting male. In the analytic part, I will interpret the vampire Angel
as an embodiment of postmodern masculinity, as he is both highly masculinized and
feminized. Although he is definitely not created as a gender-bender or gender-fucker, it will
be indicated in how far Angel can be viewed as an example of alternative and nonheteronormative masculinity.
[3] One aspect of Angel’s postmodern condition is its intertextuality or genre-mixing.
Christopher Butler writes that most postmodern texts tend to circulate “in a sea of
intertextuality” where perceived boundary lines separating them from one another become
blurry and are playfully loosened (25). Angel also swims in a sea of film and TV intertexts,
for its genre cannot be narrowed down “to particular ends,” meaning that it is a multi-generic
TV show (Butler 25). At first sight, the use of monsters, vampires, all in all mystical
creatures, situates Angel undoubtedly in the realm of horror/fantasy, however, the series also
shares formal and thematic similarities with film noir, science fiction texts as well as
superhero narratives. Considering Angel’s noirness, Allison McCracken states that “the
recovering alcoholic as Angel’s dominant metaphor, and Angel’s urban setting, the main
character’s status as detective and enforcer (working outside the law), and the use of
flashbacks to account for his personal demons and reveal his character’s troubled past all
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
attest to noir’s influence” (133). Seemingly, Angel is intertextually hybridized in terms of
genre, for it mixes fantasy elements with noir elements. Furthermore, the episode “Happy
Anniversary” (A2013) deals with a physicist trying to freeze time, whilst “Supersymmetry”
(A4005) also has a science fiction plot, as Fred publishes her theory about alternate
dimensions in a scholarly journal and also opens a portal to a parallel hell dimension. Janet K.
Halfyard also identifies Angel as a superhero narrative, for Angel meets the requirements for
definition as a comic-book superhero: he had a problematic relationship with his father and
immediately murdered his whole family after becoming a vampire, his vampire identity is a
secret identity in the human world, his vampiric superpowers link him to Superman, his use of
demon-fighting gadgetry as well as his way of standing up for justice while being positioned
outside the legal forces links him to Batman. Halfyard also remarks that Superman and
Batman references and allusions are a common device in Angel (150-54). Besides, “The Girl
in Question” (A5020) can be regarded as both a parody and pastiche of American as well as
Italian mafia movies and TV shows: Angel and Spike, another vampire with a soul also
originally belonging to the cast of Buffy, have to retrieve a demon’s head, the Capo di
Famiglia, from Rome to LA. Angel’s planned mixing of genres can be viewed as a form of
postmodernist intertextuality.
[4] Another aspect that renders the show postmodern is its setting, the city of LA.
According to Sara Upstone, LA is particularly postmodern, as it confronts one with “a chaotic
and destructive reality” as well as Otherness. In her words, Angel and the city of LA become
interrelated through their shared Otherness: “LA and Angel’s marginality are caught in a
reciprocal partnership, entwined intimately so that attention to one only heightens the focus
on the other, acting to re-affirm the place of both at the centre of the show” (103). Thus, LA’s
status as a space defined by marginalization and Otherness, for example represented through
Angel’s vampire identity as well as the presence of usually othered demons and monsters,
accounts for its postmodernism (103-6) Interestingly, Otherness and notions of “marginalized
identity” are at the heart of most postmodern fiction as well as postmodernist theory (Butler
57).
[5] Research on postmodern masculinity focuses on its negative sides primarily. Most
critical accounts, as for example Mark Storey’s essay “‘And as things fell apart’” dealing
particularly with Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, describe postmodern masculinity as
being a crisis or as being in a crisis. This crisis of masculinity then apparently results in
masculinity-as-psychopathology. Ellis’s protagonist Patrick Bateman, a mass-murdering
investment banker, engages in an “unprecedented celebration of sexual violence against
women:” he dismembers women’s bodies, rapes them orally, and forces a living rat up one
woman’s vagina (Brannon 239). I intend to turn away from this rather negative view,
however, in order to formulate a thesis of postmodern masculinity as an alternative and
positively connoted masculinity. The following comment by Linda Hutcheon will be made
use of as a basic point: “postmodernism is a contradictory phenomenon, one that uses and
abuses, installs and then subverts, the very concepts it challenges …” (1). In the same way, in
my reading, postmodern masculinity is a contradictory phenomenon, one that installs
traditional masculinity and simultaneously subverts it, one that is masculinizing and
simultaneously feminizing its very subject: meaning that, at the same time, hegemonic and
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
pro-feminist masculinities are produced. The result is an alternative masculinity that defies to
be centered or to be defined unilaterally. This definition goes hand in hand with the
Lyotardian conception “that we now live in an era in which legitimizing ‘master narratives’
are in crisis and decline” (Butler 13). Hence, masculinity can no longer be considered a stable
master narrative or monolithic myth, as there is no one definition of what it means to be a man
and as male subjects can be gendered ambiguously. I will resist phrases such as postmodern
masculinity as crisis as these bear to negative a connotation, and by analyzing Angel I will
attempt to make evident how postmodern masculinity is alternative and new.
[6] Undoubtedly, Angel can be interpreted as a masculine man, for after all he is
extremely muscular and strong, rather broody, particularly handsome and attractive to both
women and men and matches with the role/image of the hero saving the damsel in distress.
Essentially, Angel’s status as a powerful and dominant male hero is constituent of what Mike
Donaldson terms an idealized version of masculinity, namely hegemonic masculinity (2-5). In
the first episode of the series, “City Of,” (A1001) Angel single-handedly beats up and dusts
three vampire guys and thereby saves two girls who would have been killed otherwise. Later,
when he visits a party with Tina, a girl he is supposed to protect, the female host asks (about
Angel): “who is this hunk of tall dark and handsome?” In the same way, a gay talent scout
calls Angel “a beautiful, beautiful man” and hands over his card to him. Seemingly, Angel’s
handsomeness or his effect on both heterosexual women and homosexual men is ascribed to
an image of traditional masculinity, namely the tall, fit-bodied, black-wearing hunk. As
Halfyard puts it, he strikes one as an epitome of superior (corporeal) hypermasculinity:
“Angel is not a man but above man: a superman” (156).
[7] When analyzing Angel’s masculinity, it seems insightful to examine his
relationship with Darla, his former lover. Darla sired Angel. In “To Shanshu in L.A.,”
(A1022) Wolfram & Hart resurrect Darla as a human (Angel had staked and killed her a few
years before). From “First Impressions” (A2003) on, Darla’s and Angel’s new-found
relationship can be read as hard-boiled hero trapped by femme fatale: without Angel knowing
about her existence, she gains control of Angel’s dreams and makes him sleep for hours while
forcing him to have sweet dreams in which they are romantically and sexually involved. In
male discourses on film, the femme fatale’s fatality, i.e. deadliness, was ascribed to her ability
to avail herself of her “sexuality as weapon” in order to put forth the destruction of a man for
her own benefit. It seems noteworthy, however, that oftentimes the femme fatale’s deadliness
is not based on violent actions or actual enforcements of murder, but rather lies in “her very
presence,” that is to say her power to fascinate men sensually and sexually (Martin 206-208).
The same holds true for Darla: it is her very presence or sexual lure that makes the otherwise
abstinent and controlled Angel live out his heterosexual masculine desires, but that also
makes him a plaything of her manipulations. The scene revealing this duality has two levels,
the metadiegetic dream level and the diegetic reality level: On the dream level, Angel dreams
of coming home to his hotel after having slain a demon and being greeted by Darla. She
characterizes him as a hero by addressing him as “always the protector, but never the
protected” and subsequently seduces him. On the reality level, Angel is positioned in his bed
sleeping, his upper body naked, while Darla, also naked, crawls over him and accords with the
image of a devouring spider-woman by remarking about Angel “I could just eat you up”
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
(“First Impressions” A2003). The scene described above displays Angel as manipulated by
Darla, a potent and - at least for him – dangerous woman that has obliterated his self-control
by intruding his dreams. She has thereby unmanned him. Janey Place makes the point that the
femme fatale is at first presented as a powerful, free and also dangerous woman, but
eventually her power and freedom (the two characteristics that make her dangerous for men)
are limited or even eliminated by the male narrative of the film (56). Angel is no exception
from this rule, for when Angel finds out about Darla’s mind tricks, he attempts to re-gain his
self-control as well as re-instate his masculinity. Angel’s attempts to man himself again find
their climax in “Reprise” (A2015) when Angel finds Darla (as a vampire again) at his hotel,
he smashes her to a wall and starts kissing her. When she pushes him away, he grabs her arm
and throws her through a glass window and thereafter they have sex. Afterwards, Angel
threatens Darla by giving her two options: either she will leave LA or he will kill her.
Although the final sex act may be explicitly consensual and Darla never shows visible signs
of fear, the scene starts out as a rape scene. In fact, Angel behaves like a violent rapist when
he forcefully projects his desires on Darla and gets physical. Angel’s radical sexual come-on
can be read as a re-affirmation of his supremacist masculinity. By debasing and eventually
penetrating the woman who has formerly castrated him symbolically through exerting control
over him, that is to say by making him her phallus, he re-stabilizes traditional gender power
dynamics. In “Offspring,” (A3007) Angel’s status as a patriarch becomes literal, as now
pregnant Darla returns to LA and informs Angel that he is the unborn child’s father.
[8] In the foregoing analysis Angel’s masculinzation was ascribed to two points,
namely his hypermasculine body as well his sometimes patriarchal behavior. In the analysis to
come, Angel’s feminization will also be ascribed to bodily as well as behavioral aspects.
Angel’s body seems to be both a site of objectification and penetration. As McCracken puts it,
his body is “not only or merely visual spectacle but … the object of continual, unrecuperated
assault by young women within the narrative” (120). Hence, Angel’s trained hard body is at
the same time a soft and sexualized body. In her discussion of action heroes of the Reagan
era, Susan Jeffords remarks that “the soft body invariably belonged to a female and/or person
of color, whereas the hard body was, like Reagan’s own, male and white” (25). In Angel,
however, it is Angel’s male and white body that becomes a traditionally femininely gendered
soft body at the various instances when he is pierced with stakes or shot at. “Untouched”
(A2004) serves as a good example. When Angel tries to talk to a teenage witch, she
unintentionally forces a metal stake through his upper body. Thus, Angel, the superhero of the
narrative, becomes the bearer of the bleeding wound, which serves as a symbol of castration
in Freudian theory and is thus linked to the supposedly castrated women, the site of lack
(Creed 2-7). In the scene from “Untouched,” however, it is the young teenage witch who is
positioned as penetrator/castrator, whereas the male hero is positioned as penetrated/castrated.
By visualizing men, especially hypermasculine men like Angel, as penetrable and thus soft
bodies, Angel undermines patriarchal gender myths and specifically deconstructs the myth of
the hard, impervious and thus unfeminine body of the male superhero. In McCracken’s
formulation, Angel uses the “deployment of the penetrable male body to critique normative
masculinity and explore the instabilities of contemporary gender categories” (131).
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
[9] What is more, McCracken identifies Angel as “‘metrosexual’ before the term was
coined” (134). Angel’s metrosexuality is linked to his accordance with “West Hollywood’s
gay subculture:” his fairly muscular body, his dandy-like style, his interest in art and
literature, his talent at drawing as well as a certain tendency to narcissism (134). Besides, both
male as well as female characters think of Angel as gay at certain points and Angel also
becomes a locus of queer desires. At various instances in the first season, heterosexual Doyle
hints at Angel’s remarkable sexiness (134). In “Judgement,” (A2001) Angel sings the song
“Mandy” by rather queer-coded singer Barry Manilow and in “Orpheus” (A4015) it is
revealed that Angel has been to numerous Manilow concerts. At these points, it is indicated
that hero-like figures such as Angel can have a tendency for softie or camp music. In short,
Angel is feminized through displaying his male body as a penetrable site as well as through
marking his appearance and behavior as metrosexual.
[10] This essay analyzed Angel’s masculinity as postmodern and hypothesized
postmodern masculinity as contradictory – as both masculinized and feminized. The first part
of the analysis argued that Angel’s impressively trained body can be viewed as a sign of
hypermasculinity, for he is superhumanly strong, muscular and also an epitome of male
attractiveness. Above that, his status as helper of the helpless and savior of young women in
distress constructs him as a traditional male hero figure. In his relationship with Darla, he acts
like a hard-boiled noir male: as a matter of fact, he punishes Darla for her transgressive,
femme-fatale-like behavior in order to re-instate his masculinity and to re-construct male
supremacy. Angel, however, is also feminized. His hard body is at the same time a soft,
penetrable, destructible body. Hence, the patriarchal role allocation of women as penetrated
and men as penetrator is reversed and deconstructed in Angel. Similarly, Angel’s metrosexual
appearance and behavior signify an alternative and new form of masculinity, one that
fearlessly embraces traditionally femininely gendered traits. Conclusively, Angel can be
referred to as an example of postmodern, alternative masculinity, oscillating between
masculinization and feminization.
©Christian David Zeitz, 2016.
Published Online in Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016).
ISSN: 1555-7863
http://www.whedonstudies.tv/watcher-junior-the-undergraduate-journal-of-whedonstudies.html
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
Works Cited
Brannon, Robert. “Torturing Women as Fine Art: Why Some Women and Men Are
Boycotting Knopf.” Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography. Ed.
Diana E.H. Russell. New York: Teachers CP, 1993. 239-244. Print.
Butler, Christopher. Postmodernism. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
Print.
“City Of.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 1. Writ. Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt.
Dir. Joss Whedon. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous–Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. 1993.
Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2007. Print. Popular Fiction Series.
Donaldson, Mike. “What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?” Theory and Society 22 (1993): 643657. Print.
“First Impressions.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 2. Writ. Shawn Ryan. Dir.
James A. Contner. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Flax, Jane. “Postmodernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory.” Signs: Journal of
Women in Culture and Society 12.4 (1987): 221-243. Print.
Gutterman, David S. “Postmodernism and the Interrogation of Masculinity.” Theorizing
Masculinites. Ed. Harry Brod and Michael Kaufman. Thousand Oaks, California:
Sage Publications, 1994. 219-238. Print.
Halfyard, Janet K. “The Dark Avenger: Angel and the Cinematic Superhero.” Reading Angel:
The TV Spin-off with a Soul. Ed. Stacey Abbot. London: Tauris, 2005. 149-162. Print.
“Happy Anniversary.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 2. Writ. David Greenwalt. Dir.
Bill L. Norton. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. London & New
York: Routledge, 1988. Print.
Jeffords, Susan. Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era. New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers UP, 1994. Print.
“Judgment.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 2. Writ. David Greenwalt. Dir. Michael
Lange. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Watcher Junior 9.1 (Spring 2016)
Zeitz
Martin, Angela. “‘Gilda Didn’t Do Any of Those Things You’ve Been Losing Sleep
Over!’: The Central Woman of 40s Films Noirs.” Women in Film Noir. 1978. Ed.
Elizabeth A. Kaplan. London: British Film Institute, 2005. 202-228. Print.
McCracken, Allison. “At Stake: Angel’s Body, Fantasy Masculinity, and Queer Desire in
Teen Television.” Undead TV: Essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ed. Elana
Levine. Durham: Duke UP, 2007. 116-144. Print.
“Offspring.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 3. Writ. David Greenwalt. Dir. Turi
Meyer. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
“Orpheus.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 4. Writ. Mere Smith. Dir. Terrence
O’Hara. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Place, Janey. “Women in Film Noir.” Women in Film Noir. 1978. Ed. Elizabeth A.
Kaplan. London: British Film Institute, 2005. 47-68. Print.
“Reprise.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 2. Writ. Tim Minear. Dir. James Whitmore,
Jr. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Storey, Mark. “‘And as things fell apart’: The Crisis of Postmodern Masculinity in Bret
Easton Ellis’s ‘American Psycho’ and Dennis Cooper’s ‘Frisk’.” Critique 47.1
(2000): 57-72. Print.
“Supersymmetry.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 4. Writ. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah
Fain. Dir. Bill L. Norton. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
“The Girl in Question.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 5. Writ. Steven S. DeKnight
and Drew Goddard. Dir. David Greenwalt. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
“To Shanshu in L.A.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 1. Writ. David Greenwalt. Dir
David Greenwalt. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
“Untouched.” Angel – Jäger der Finsternis: Season 2. Writ. Mere Smith. Dir. Joss
Whedon. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010. DVD.
Upstone, Sara. “‘LA’s got it all’: Hybridity and Otherness in Angel’s Postmodern City.”
Reading Angel: The TV Spin-off with a Soul. Ed. Stacey Abbot. London: Tauris, 2005.
101-113. Print.